The Worst, Then Best, Customer Service Ever

They both almost made me cry — and revealed a surprising truth.

The pharmacy cashier did not try to hide her annoyance with me as I tried for the third time in two days to pick up a prescription for my daughter. She said they were really busy and I would have to wait at least another half hour.

There was not a single person in line at the pharmacy counter and three people were working behind it. Yet, she seemed utterly uninterested in helping me. It felt almost comical. At first, at least.

I’d come the night before to pick up the prescription at this location of a popular change drug store and the pharmacy had just closed. So, I was sent away. Then earlier that morning I’d come and discovered that the prescription had not been called in. So I called the doctor and made sure it was sent over. Then I’d waited for the 30 minutes she’d told me it would take to fill it after receiving the prescription.

Now I was back at the pickup counter. I fully expected I would be able to get it at this point, so I was feeling frustrated. Meanwhile, my daughter was home sick from school and had been waiting more than 14 hours for the medication.

When I explained the situation to the cashier for the second time so she’d remember how long I’d been waiting, she told me if I was upset I should take it up with the urgent care doctor who hadn’t called it in on time.

This cashier’s demeanor shocked me. I was exhausted and felt tears threaten to well up in my eyes. In disbelief, I told her that I thought she could at least empathize (but by this point I doubted it). Then I told her I’d be waiting in the store until it was ready.

Within a few minutes, one of the pharmacists who had overheard our conversation called me over and helped me herself. The cashier was no longer in sight. Within 10 minutes I was on my way home at least, with the prescription in hand.

I’d be lying to say I wasn’t silently cursing that cashier as I drove.

Now, I’ve gotten used to bad — or in some cases, a complete lack of customer service in many areas of retail these days. I don’t expect help at just about any store I visit. While I mourn the demise of human checkout clerks in grocery stores, I don’t even expect a live person to help me check out most places. I bring my own bags, find the items I want, ring them up, bag them, and take them home myself.

If you wanted to avoid human contact this would be a good thing. However, I worry that missing out on these little interactions with strangers pokes more holes in the fabric of what might be a healthy and civil society.

That is, at least, until I have an interaction like this one. What customer service representative at a pharmacy doesn’t exhibit understanding and sympathy for a mother trying to get medicine for her sick child??

It’s really mind-blowing.

The experience made me wonder, do businesses still take pride in their products and services, or do they just care about profit? The drugstore cashier did not seem the least interested in providing a positive customer experience for me.

At lunchtime, I recounted the story to my husband and tried to let it go. Perhaps as low as my expectations had gotten — I was looking only for understanding, not special treatment or a discount — they weren’t low enough.

And then I got an email demonstrating the very pride of products and services I had been wondering still existed.

I was even more shocked than I was by the pharmacy cashier’s poor service that morning.

It was the kind of shock where your jaw unintentionally drops and your eyes widen in disbelief, like animated cartoon shock.

The prior week, I’d half-heartedly filed a claim on damage my enameled cast iron Dutch oven had suffered. I had a vague understanding that the manufacturer had a good warranty policy, so I was hoping they’d tell me how to get it repaired, or do so for a small fee.

I don’t know how the pot got damaged. As my daughters have gotten older I’ve had to share my kitchen, so I wasn’t aware when it happened. I only knew that my favorite pot had holes in the enamel at the bottom and I no longer felt comfortable using it.

We received the Le Creuset Marseille Blue 5 1⁄2 quart Dutch oven as a wedding present — over 20 years ago. Since then, it had become my go-to pot. I used it for soups and stews, but also to sauté vegetables and to make marinara sauce. I’d even discovered that since cast iron heats up more quickly than stainless steel, it offers a faster way of bringing water to a boil to make pasta than my pasta pot.

I used it multiple times a week for over 20 years. This means approximately at least 3,120 times! I’d probably gotten my money’s worth.

Now I had their reply to my claim. I scanned it.

Based on the photos I sent, they determined that the damage did not fall under the limited warranty coverage because it was not caused by a manufacturing defect. Therefore, it wasn’t covered

In other words, it wasn’t their fault.

They ascertained that the damage was caused by high heat — the fault of either me or someone in my family.

I didn’t have grounds to argue with this. I’d certainly accidentally burned food and overboiled liquids in that pot over the prior two decades. So I didn’t feel ripped off. I reasoned that 20+ years for a pot used so frequently is a heck of a run.

I’d had 4 washing machines in the same period.

But it was what was written next that made my jaw drop.

If I agreed to throw away the pot, they’d send me a replacement at no cost as a one-time courtesy.

They wanted to send me a new $420 pot. For free.

They didn’t even ask me to pay for shipping.

I confess I might have screamed out in excitement. That is excellent customer service and pride of product, if I ever witnessed it. My faith in humanity was restored.

I wrote back immediately in joy and appreciation. I promised to review the user guidelines for the new pot and take good care of it. I couldn’t wait to tell my friends this incredible story.

I almost felt a little bad about it. If it was my fault, did I deserve a replacement? I wanted good customer service, but this was really above and beyond.

Cynical me thought perhaps they wouldn’t follow through with it. (Those low customer service expectations are hard to overcome.)

6 days later my new pot arrived at my doorstep.

It is gorgeous and I can’t wait to use it for the next 20+ years.

Now, you may question the logic or financial savvy of replacing a product that a customer had used for over 20 years and damaged herself with a free replacement.

At first, I did too.

But then I realized how smart it is.

Having filled out the claim form, I am now on their email list. After their wonderful customer service, I was curious to see what their offerings were these days. I hadn’t purchased anything from them in many years, so I checked out their site. The way they treated me made me want to support their business more. And their pride of product gave me complete confidence in their quality.

Perhaps then it’s no surprise I’ve already picked out my next acquisition: a green soup pot I am positively swooning over. There’s a good chance that their excellent service with my Dutch oven will generate at least one sale or two this year that I wouldn’t have made otherwise.

Plus, when I think of helping my daughters stock their kitchens one day, I will definitely want them each to have the same kind of Dutch oven in the color of their choice.

Safe to say, their above-and-beyond customer service made me not just an enthusiastic customer for life, but also an enthusiast who recommends their products and buys them for others too.

A positive or negative customer service experience not only impacts that one exchange, it also helps decide whether there will be future purchases made or not.

So through that lens, it was the pharmacy cashier’s behavior that was expensive, not the $420 pot.